"You're...a ninja?" Matthew says. He's not quite sure he buys that - a ninja, really? But then, he's also talking to a six foot turtle. He's aware that taking issue with the 'ninja' part of all this is faintly ridiculous.

The staff, tho, that they can see with their own eyes, and it's fascinating. They move closer, like a moth drawn to the pink flames bursting it. "There's more of it now than before," they say. "Where'd all that extra mass come from?"